Kiera and Tiff are on the pod together to ask, What are you working toward? Your professional purpose can often get lost when you’re too buried in work, and the two invite listeners to take a step back and ask themselves key questions in order to recenter.
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Transcript:
The Dental A Team (00:00)
Hello, Dental A Team listeners. This is Kiera and it is Spiffy Tiffy and Kiera back on the podcast. I messaged Tiff and just said, Hey, are you free? Because the topic today, I actually think Tiff and I can really rift on of such a solid conversation. I'm really excited about. So Tiff, welcome to the podcast. How are doing today?
The Dental A Team (00:19)
I'm good. I'm excited because we haven't even, I don't even know what this, what you're thinking. So we're all learning this together, you guys.
The Dental A Team (00:25)
you
It's true. This is the magic of Kiera and Tiff. We can truly pull each other in at any moment of any presentation and we pretty much can just pick up. And I think that's a beautiful thing when you have somebody that, I don't know, Tiff, it's just like, I was gonna say a funny joke, but I'm not gonna say that joke. We want someone who is so connected to you that just knows what you're going to do. It's truly pure magic. And we've literally had that since we met. So for those of you new to the podcast, welcome. Tiff and I are.
just two girls who love dentistry and wanted to change the world. And here we are. We really are passionate about life and business. We're passionate about dentists having their best lives, team members having their best lives. And that's really the core of what Dental A Team is about. So to get both of us, mean, literally I met Tiff when I was a rookie business owner. So the fact that we're still here together, we still love working together, I think is a pretty magical, incredible thing. And we would just always have said, we wanted to build a business that we are proud of, that we enjoy working in.
There have been times we have not enjoyed working here. I remember last year about this time I called you and we're both like, why is it so hard? Like I just remember it. And so there are ups and downs of a business, but in that vein, okay, Tiff, here's the preface. You ready? I'm going to tell you. So I was at the gym the other day and I absolutely hate with a passion sled pushes. Like I hate them. They are freaking hard. And Laura, my trainer, she like, I hate it. Like I don't have strong.
shoulders, my knees like hurt like that's why I go to the gym like I've got these like dumb problems and I was pushing the sled and like I'm shaking every ounce me wants to just give up it is so hard it's not that far but I really absolutely like loathe sled sled pushes and sled poles and Laura yelled at me she's like Kiera what are you working towards think about that while you push this and I was like I'm doing a podcast on this and Tiff I feel like you are the perfect person to podcast with me on
because that has set with me. And as I was pushing, I literally had the thought of I'm pushing to my 90, 100, 110 year old self that Tiff knows the vision. Cotton candy pink hair here, cotton candy blue hair on Tiff. We're going to be these like fit ripped grannies that are just living our best life, having so much fun. But I thought about that physically for my body. But I thought we do sled pushes and sled pulls in our business every single day. And to really start to think and dig deep of like
What are we working for? What is that purpose? And Tiff, know that this is right up your alley, which is why I didn't even have to prep you on it. Cause I'm like, let me just give a little preface and you're going to be all in. Cause one it's working out, which is your huge passion to its life. And three, we get to be on the podcast together. It's a triple win. You're welcome. So triple whammy. Here we go. So just thinking about that, I don't know. I want to just, have no agenda of where I want to take this podcast other than
The Dental A Team (03:01)
I do love it.
Triple whammy.
The Dental A Team (03:15)
It just made me really, I've been thinking about this. We're probably like four weeks since she said it to me, like literally it was a yell. So just imagine me and Tiff are your gym trainers here yelling at you, like, what are you working towards? What are you pushing this for? Why are you doing it? And I think sometimes that can get lost in people. And I think until we get that like yell wake up when it's like truly just like hard, I think sometimes we are asleep and hopefully today's podcast might wake you up and bring you to being present, being focused and being intentional. So Tiff.
It's okay, take it away.
The Dental A Team (03:45)
Totally, I love working out, so thank you. Thank you for thinking of me and that reference. I don't do sled pulls because I don't like them, and I don't have a trainer telling me to do them, so I'm very proud of you for doing them. This is wild, I hate mountain climbers and knee ups. Those are my two worst enemies. So I'm with you on hating some sort of exercise at least. I'll do, I don't know, I'll do a burpee all day long for you, but ask me to do a knee up or a mountain climber, I'm out. But actually,
The Dental A Team (03:54)
you
me too.
Mm-hmm.
The Dental A Team (04:14)
This is, we're always like synchronistic. So it is fitting that this comes up. I actually like on a, think there's different scales that you could take this conversation. And I think there's the grand scale of like, why are we doing this? You and I come back to this constantly. And at about this time last year, we had really lost that vision and that drive. And so we did have to come back. I was actually thinking about that just the other day. was like, gosh, it was almost a year ago at this point, like by a couple of weeks, I think. Yeah. So yeah.
The Dental A Team (04:37)
too. Crazy. Like literally.
The Dental A Team (04:42)
Yeah, so I was thinking about it too, but this morning actually, I had a conversation with a client and it kind of, it's very pertinent to this subject and it kind of is interesting to me because we're thinking on a grand scale here and you're like, you're 80, 90, 100, 110 year old self is what you're envisioning and we go big a lot on like goals and visions and dreams and wishes for the, the.
clients for their practices, but something that I chatted about this morning was like as simple as something you're implementing. And the conversation was set around bonuses and bonus structures. And I was like, okay, you can do anything you want with a bonus. I don't care. I truly don't care what you decide. You need to be profitable at the bottom line, the end of the day. That's all I care about. My job is to make sure you're profitable. I don't care what your decision is. I have input on everything.
But the real question is, why are you doing a bonus? Because that will help answer the question of which style of bonus you want to do. And I think, Kiera, why are you exercising? Because that's going to help you decide what style of exercises are the best for that need. If you just woke up one day, people do this all the time.
They're like, I'm gonna exercise today. I'm gonna start today. And they're like, okay, there's, this is like, I think one of the main reasons people don't exercise, because you wake up and you're like, today's the day I'm gonna do it. And you're like, okay, there's 15,000 gyms to choose from, all ranging prices. I could get a trainer, but that's X amount of money. And I don't know that I need one or want one. I could do a CrossFit gym. I could do power lifting. I could do,
spin classes, I could do there's a million things. And so it's like, if you don't know the reason why you're doing the thing you're going to do, it's very difficult to pick what that looks like or to finalize or decide or clarify what that looks like down to the smallest decisions. And when people sit in indecision or I always say if something is really, really hard and I say this,
I always preface this with that doesn't mean life isn't hard. Life is hard, but when something is so hard that you're like, why isn't this working? I think of the toddler with that little game, right? And it's got the circle and the triangle and the square and the X. And this toddler has the square and the circle and they just sit there banging and banging and banging and banging and screaming in frustration because they know it's supposed to go inside the box. It's supposed to get inside the box, but they can't figure out.
The Dental A Team (07:10)
Mm-hmm.
Thank you.
The Dental A Team (07:36)
how it gets inside the box. And when we're sitting there like banging our heads against the wall, if you were doing all of these things in the gym, Kiera, felt this way about the sled and weren't seeing results, that's that space of like, I am doing everything I can possibly think of, why isn't this working? When you feel that way, I think my suspicion is that we've lost sight of why we're doing that thing.
The Dental A Team (07:38)
Right.
Okay.
The Dental A Team (08:05)
Right? Or that
thing isn't actually fitting the reason that we're here and we're doing the wrong thing. So we need to find that new path and that new thing circumventing what we're trying to do. We're trying to break through this wall, but sometimes it's like, no, actually that wall was supposed to be there. I was supposed to drive around. This is someone's yard. I can't just drive through their yard. Like this wall is supposed to be here. I'm actually supposed to drive around this wall, but my shortest path in my brain is through the wall. I hope that makes sense.
The Dental A Team (08:23)
Right.
Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm.
It does make sense and it actually made me think about Simon Sinek's why
starts with the why, which is the purpose. And then you go into the how, which is the process. And then you go into the what, which is the result. And I think so many people, you said Tiff, they're starting with the result. It's like, I want to have a six pack. ? Great. But like why? When you can go bigger and I can think of, like when I was pushing that said pole, I'm like, I'm so angry pushing this thing. And I'm like, yeah, but 90 year old, 110 year old Kiera, if I can be running, I can be walking, I can be lifting things and my bones aren't frail.
That's the purpose. Like that's the big purpose. This is why we're even doing. What is the cause? What do you believe? Like I believe that I'm going to be 110 year old fit woman who can do all these things. Then the how is the process. I go to the gym three times a week and the result is I have strong muscles and I have the six pack. That's, that's the after effect. That's not the starting. And with your practice, like when Tiff and I, talked about it, we lost the why.
That's why I think things were so hard. Like I feel like we were the toddler trying to shove the X into the circle and saying like, get in there. Like this needs to fit. Like it has to be this way. Like you said, we were running into someone's yard. Like there was a wall there and we couldn't see it. And when we scaled it back and it was like, this is the purpose of why we're doing what we do. Then the how is the process we do consulting this way. And then the result is your business grows. The profitability is there. You look at your numbers. And I think when I just, it really was just a highlight of
I think people today listening, I would just implore you and encourage you to ask the question of why am I doing this? And not like you can have it to make money. That's a result, but there's got to be something deeper and bigger and more than that. That's going to sustain you through that. Like true sled pull push, because I don't know, like businesses are not, you are not profitable forever. Like that's not something that's just like you get to profit and you stay at profit. Just like you don't get to fit and you stay at fit. You don't get to.
a certain result and you stay there. You have to maintain, have to be vigilant. You have to be on top of it. Just because like, I remember there was an epiphany one day, Tiff, Tiffanie epiphany. There you go. It's not quite efficiency, but I'm going to get there. ? it was an epiphany where I literally was like, I get not half to work out. get to work out now, not to look good, but to be able to walk and not have pain. Like it was this moment. Cause I used to just work out. Like I need to like, look a little bit better in my swimsuit. So like, we'll just go to the gym for that.
Then I was like, no, this is just a way of life. This is a process. And I think when you realize that that's business, like being profitable, looking at the numbers, being the CEO, getting the team on board, doing great dentistry, that's all part of this. It's not the, do this just because it's like, that's part of all that you're doing. But when you have a greater why, I mean, even just the last couple of nights, me and Gwendolyn, which is my chat GPT have been hanging out tip. And it was crazy because even though I'm exhausted,
I'm lit up and fired up and excited because of what we're building and the purpose and all that. And that's what you want to get to. And to think Tiffanie, a year ago, you and I, remember I was on a walk. I remember exactly where I was. And I just remember hearing you and like, it was so like painful. You're like, why is this so hard? And I remember stopping, sitting on the ground, literally crying. And I was like, I don't know, Tiff, like, this is not what we built this for. This is not the life we want to be living. Like something radically has to change. And it was because I think our why was
just grow a bigger business. wasn't, let's change people's lives. Let's impact people. Let's look at what we're doing and how we can shift it. So I know that was a bit of a rant on my side. I just hope people are waking up and remembering like, what are you working towards? All this pain, all this hardship is part of it. But when that why is so vigilant and so pressing and so driving it, you're able to get through the sled pole as much as you don't enjoy it and get to the other side because you know there's a bigger purpose you're working towards.
The Dental A Team (12:21)
Mm-hmm. Yeah, I agree. And I think that we also have to remember that things shift and they change. The reasons that we do things change. So I have a couple of thoughts as you're speaking. First of all, you're having a difficult time ? committing to a task or doing it all the time, or sometimes I forget, I'm like, shoot, I forgot. was gonna start going to the gym three times a week, like six weeks ago, and I haven't gone once, right? So if you forgot, it wasn't important, right? So my theory on that is either it's not the right thing.
So you chose the wrong thing to get you to the result you're after or your result you're after, your why, isn't strong enough. It doesn't hit fully yet, if that makes sense. So like Kiera, you said your reason for working out, right? When Brody was four, I think three, four years old, I was exhausted and I was tired and being a parent of a freaking three, four year old, like it was rough. was a single mom and it was...
The Dental A Team (13:04)
Mm-hmm.
The Dental A Team (13:20)
I was just tired and I was like, you know what? Like, this is ridiculous. I do not want my kid to remember that mom couldn't hang. Like I couldn't play with him at the playground because I was tired easily or I couldn't, whatever it was, color with him because I'm like, no, like I just gotta rest, right? If I couldn't do the things with him because I wasn't taking care of myself, because I was pouring into him and tired, like that crazy cycle, that wasn't enough for me and that's when...
realistically when ? workouts and training and stuff took precedence in my life. So my, my Y was easy. It's Brody. My Y for everything is Brody, but that shifts and it changes. Brody is Brody is my entire life, but he's going to college soon. And so now like I'm in that stage of that we all get to personally and professionally of, what is my Y now? So I think something that we get stuck on is
what we think, what we put into the universe, what we say has to be forever. And that it's like, no, this is why I started this business. Okay, but like, it's not the 90s anymore, right? Like I can't keep, I can't wear my clothes from high school, even though they're coming back around. If I wear those clothes from high school, which I don't have anymore, I would look ridiculous, right? So like stop trying to be the past version of yourself and understand
and give value to the fact that you have grown and your business has grown. So who you are and who your company is today is outgrowing, kind of like the crabs, you know? Like they outgrow their shells and they get to gift that shell to a new crab. A new crab walks along who's at that stage and they're like, this is my space. Let me take this giant home. This bigger crab that left that shell behind,
The Dental A Team (14:57)
Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm.
The Dental A Team (15:12)
is now in a bigger shell. And if you're not willing to shed that shell, you're one, keeping other people from growing. You're still, that crab can't find that home if you haven't left it behind. And you're keeping yourself from growing. So to Kiera's point of like, you're not always gonna be profitable. There's gonna be, it's all cyclical. And if we're not open to the idea that our why has to change and it has to evolve to continue to be important to us, then
I don't know why you created one in the beginning.
The Dental A Team (15:44)
I don't disagree with you. And on the profit thing, our goal at Dental A Team is to make sure our offices are always profitable. So we're just going to put that asterisk there. I think it can be. It's just not something where it's like a set it, forget it. You can just walk away from it. ? And Div, I love that you said that because I think the permission right now to change, because me working out used to be to just look good. Like that was honestly what it was. It was like, I want to have this ripped body, like.
but not like so ripped, like just toned. I didn't like truly didn't have to work super hard at it. So was like, I go to the gym like as a social thing. That was it. That was, that was my why at that point. Now it's a like, no, like 90 year old Kiera needs this 40 year old Kiera needs this today. Like just who I am today. And also my mental sanity needs it today. And so allowing yourself to morph, to evolve, to grow. And I think when you look at your business and it was wild. ?
We had outgrown our why a little bit and our why needed to change and we needed to come back home. I think there's still always threads of what it was, but like you said, Tiff, life changes, circumstances changes. I think I got to a spot where I realized all the goals I had set for myself and for our company, we had pretty much hit. Like, so was kind of just this like rogue, like, all right, we've done this. And as a grower and a creator and a builder, I don't want to just do the same thing day in day out. That's not who I am. That's not what I was built to do. That's not what our company was built to do.
And so we had to, but like, couldn't keep doing that myself. I needed to get the team button. I needed the team to help build a bigger vision. We needed to collectively all decide where do want this to grow? And I needed to have something bigger than myself. ? I think is where that shifted. And so really for you, no matter where you are in the phase of the journey, no matter if it's personal, professional, if you're a team member listening, if you're a doctor listening, whomever it is, if this is a team meeting, I think also for every team player to find out what our why is, what are we working towards?
Like pretend we're your gym trainers and we're yelling at you right now. Like, what are you working for? What are you doing all this for? Is it the same as what it has been? For Tiff, it's always been Brody. And I'm actually really excited, Tiff, to watch you morph into another version of yourself where Brody goes to college. And Tiff, like for me, it was like, cool. We were trying to have children. We were trying to do all these different things. Like that didn't happen. And so I remember sitting there and I'm like, what the heck?
I'm not doing any this anymore. Like I want to work this hard. I want to be this tired. I want to be this exhausted. There's nothing bigger that I'm working towards. And when we lose that, you lose the momentum. ? or if it gets foggy or fuzzy or life changes or things don't happen the way you planned really just, think reassessing today, what are you working for? What is, and working personally, professionally team wise. And I also like for me, I get lit up now when I find out what team members are working. I love tip. love our one-on-ones. love hearing.
what Tiffanie's personal goals are. love hearing Britt. And I used to say that now it's like even more fun because we can take the business and manipulate it to create people's dream lives for them and also change Dennis lives too at the same time. And to me, that's even like more of a fun why that's bigger and more engaging and more exciting. But like you said, Tiff, it's crabs, it's shells, it's evolving, it's evolution of soul. And I think allow yourself to evolve, allow your team to evolve, allow your business to evolve, but whatever you're doing, just make sure
If you've lost that spunk and like inspire, find it again. Have it to be more like, again, a year ago I did not have this and then two nights, the last two nights, I'm so excited to run spreadsheets at numbers and figure it out. Like the puzzle, it's like scheming over here with me and I can't wait to come talk to Tip and I can't wait to do the projects that we're building. And I know Tip feels the same way. Like it's just fun and there's energy because we're, I think we're centered and focused on what we really want to do and committed to that and willing to allow ourselves to rewrite it.
consistently to make sure that we're always being inspired, always being challenged, always growing and progressing. So that's like my, that's my, are you working for? Spielstift. Any last thoughts you've got to add to this and thank you for popping in unannounced. I knew you'd be the perfect person. I knew there'd be nuggets that we could both pull to this. And I didn't want to do this alone because I also think not intentionally, but as I just said it, I actually think building a why and a vision of what you're working towards is so much more fun when you have people and a community and a team of people that are bought in.
that is so much more fulfilling. And I think for a long time, Tiff, you probably could have tested this. I think I tried to be a lone wolf trying to pull the team along and I had to shift and realize it's so much more fun to collectively have a group focus, a group process. Yes, I need to be, I need to have like at least some starting point to it, but it's so much more enjoyable when there's more people bought into it rather than just myself. So maybe that's also why I felt the want and need to have you on this today too. So any last thoughts, things you think of?
as we wrap up today.
The Dental A Team (20:22)
Yeah, I think a couple things. One thing, what you just said is to like make that actionable for people is that you provide a template. Like we can create what we want this company to look like, right? But it's not our company. And so you provide a template for us so that we can work off of that. And then together we create the vision and the mission and all of those pieces. But they align with who you are because that's what this company is here for. It would be ridiculous for anyone else to be the one that
creates that because it's not our company. ? So I think you provide the template, which is, know, every time you ask me for something, I'm like, well, you're going tell me what you want it to look like. we all need that, the clarity. You provide the template and the clarity.
The Dental A Team (20:57)
Thank
Can we,
can we ask Rick on that real quick because you, so let's go back to when we met a year ago. I remember you saying, Kiera, we joined this company because of who you are and the vision you had. inspired us to join you. And that was something like, it's still like, gives me like tingles hits me to my core. I thought I was being selfish building a vision and a template. And when you said that you're like, you've lost yourself basically like in more polite words than that.
But you were like, you need to get yourself centered and get us excited because you driving this dream, this vision is why we collectively have come together. And if you're this floating bubble off on no man's land, waiting for us to co-create it because you want us to take ownership, that's what's going to lose our team. And Tiff, I don't know if you remember saying that directly to me. I remember exactly where we were. We were looking across the room at each other when you said it. And I'm just grateful that you have the, I think, courage to say that to your boss, to your friend.
I think a lot of team members don't realize that you can really help your leaders ? get enlightened when there may be a little fuzzy. But Tiff, as soon as you said that to me, like, I'm not being selfish. This is what you guys need from me. This is why we're all here together. And if I can give that template, that guidance, everybody can rally around that. But that's got to be something that's core in me because I can't fake fire and the team will not come if there's not a spark. I like excitement that's got to be built within me.
The Dental A Team (22:28)
Absolutely, and that goes hand in hand with what I was going to say. And so it was like literally perfect timing. you provide the template and something, there's a lot in there, but something that I wanted to pull out that goes exactly with what
just said. one, number one, before I even say that, I think there are words in our dictionary that have an imposed ? emotion attached to them that's completely wrong.
The Dental A Team (22:54)
you
The Dental A Team (22:54)
Anything
can be good, anything can be bad. And I think that everyone, every person, every human, every animal has to have some sort of selfishness within their personality
order for us to survive. Like for you to not be selfish and be like, no, like you're just going to give away everything. Like that doesn't work. You had to be selfish and be like, no, why did I create my company? Like, yes, this is our company and we all share it with you.
But at the end of the day, it's your company. Why did you do it? And without that, we can't share it. And so something I was going to say is, and what you said, Kiera, was that the words that I said made you realize that you, or it sounded like I was saying, which I was, that you had lost yourself, right? And I don't shy away from those statements because it's incredibly important to me. If you lose yourself, like what are we even here for? And the whole concept of this
The Dental A Team (23:40)
Mm-hmm.
The Dental A Team (23:53)
podcast today that why, right? If the why doesn't tie back to your personal life, why are you here? Like, what are you doing? It is not 1950s anymore where we are just like working to work and that's our lives. Like something shifted in the last, especially five years, but the last 10 years and we've really come to understand that work is to satisfy and project our personal lives so that we can be
The Dental A Team (24:00)
I agree. I agree.
Mm-hmm.
The Dental A Team (24:20)
the best we possibly can with the time that we have here on earth. So if your why cannot tie back to your business making your personal life incredible, or for me, I work so that I can have a fantastic personal life. I love you, Kiera, but I don't work. If you didn't pay me, I wouldn't be here. Right? Yes.
The Dental A Team (24:39)
don't blame you. I don't blame you.
You're here for life.
The Dental A Team (24:41)
I would still be friends with
you. I'll still podcast with you. But if I'm not able to support my family in the best ways that I know how by being a fantastic human by the time I get done with my work, by supporting us financially, and by providing my kid the vision of what work can be that I want him to have, what am I even doing? So if you can't, if your why isn't so important to you that it would break something inside of you personally, if you didn't hit that why,
then you haven't nailed your way.
The Dental A Team (25:12)
I agree. And Tiff, I'm so glad you said that because I think there was a shift of working for the sake of working. And I, I like, this is a good, mean, I feel like I'm like unraveling like all of my layers right now. Like I'm all right. Okay. Let's like get really to the core of it. So thank you, Tiff, for pulling that out. Again, I knew I needed someone else on this, especially you. I knew I had to have the right person on this podcast to pull out what I really wanted to invoke in this podcast. I needed to one get
more beyond myself. Like you said, it has to be something where this is fulfillment for your life. And I had this aha moment where I'm like, hold on, this business was built to serve my life, not my life serving the business. And I think that that was a clutch moment for me to realize one coming back home to why we're doing this to building a template, three, figuring out like the business is serving our life, not the other way around. And then doing that for the team. ? I think that there was not, think I know.
We're not going to sugarcoat. I was really tricky for a minute. If like it was, I remember you being like, I'm not working all the time. I was like, work already. And we realized we were going from this hourly checkmark to a results focus. And that was such a mindset shift. was a culture shift as a company. It did feel like we were taking off like an old costume and putting on the new current. Um, but that's, think what human beings were here. We are human beings. We're not human doers.
The Dental A Team (26:19)
Yeah.
The Dental A Team (26:37)
And I think, like you said, it's got to be serving that. And I think for me as a business owner, as a CEO, as a friend, as a human, to realize that the business can do both, it doesn't have to be one or the other, I think is like probably the magic space right now. So when I'm like, what am I working for? I'm working to like change Dennis lives, of course, to make this huge positive impact. I'm also working to make sure that team that works for me has these incredible lives as well. Tiff, also said to me, like, Kiera, we want your life. And I was like, wow.
That's such like a comment that I'm so grateful for. And I was like, great, how can we create that? Like, how can we build? Like, what are the things that I have that you want that we can then build? Like those now are just conversations and creative playgrounds. And that's, think the magic of business is business is able to fulfill wise, fulfill magic, fulfill dreams and make them realities. And to me, that is the magic of being a business owner. So I think again, what is that? Why? And like you said, Tiff, like
I hope people can even hear like I get giddy and excited. I'm like, all right, let's go make some dreams come true. Like for dentists, for team members, for myself, like for all of us, how can we do that? That's what lights me up. And your why will be your own. But like you said, Tiff, if you don't have that solid, that sled pole is going to hurt. That sled push is going to kill. And you're going to just give up because you don't have that fire inside that truly is meant to drive you forward.
The Dental A Team (27:56)
Yeah, I agree. I have to give kudos and a statement to a doctor that I, he is so near and dear to my heart. I worked for him for a really long time and I watched him, one, I watched him work himself to death. Like I watched him work himself to where I'm like, are you even here today? Like you are so, you're not here. You are so dead.
right now, but I also watched him reinvent himself. I watched him reinvent us, reinvent our company. I watched him lose himself. I lost myself, but at the core of everything, I know, Kiera, you ask me often how I'm so forward in my communication or that I make you have these conversations and...
I learned so much from him. He was willing to be vulnerable with me ? and have those conversations with me. He treated me as if I was a human on his team that he wanted there for a really long time. And he would pull me in for those hard conversations when he had to have them with me. I'm gonna get emotional. And it changed my perspective of people, communication, and business.
The Dental A Team (29:01)
you
The Dental A Team (29:11)
And he's still going, he's still got his business and I'm sure he's still turbulent as ever. We'll use that word. But kudos to him for taking, I was 19 when I started working for him and he just, took this girl and he just poured into her so that I could get to where I am. And so I think my point of that is doctors, owners, business owners,
Be open to that. Don't be so shut down and scared to be seen as vulnerable or small or weak that your team can't reach you. He was always reachable. Even when he was angry, he'd be like, give me a second. I'm gonna shut my door. I'd hear him yell sometimes and I'm like, bro, get it together. But he was that.
The Dental A Team (29:56)
you
You
The Dental A Team (30:05)
vulnerable with us, that it allowed us to have the clarity and it allowed me then, Kiera, to be able to have those conversations with you, to not be afraid just because you're my boss and the company owner. Like if I see something that could potentially damage the company, damage you as a human or damage us or damage my goals, I'm going to speak up and say something because it's for the good of everyone and he taught me that. So massive kudos to him and
The Dental A Team (30:26)
Right.
you
The Dental A Team (30:33)
It was a wild ride. will never,
never not admit that, but I, there's a lot of good that came out of it. And I truly believe that my communication with business owners comes from him being vulnerable. So doctors just don't forget that. Like you're not weak. You're actually stronger by allowing your team to help support you.
The Dental A Team (30:54)
And I am grateful for your doctor too. ? I'm grateful for the person that he helped you develop into. And I definitely believe that people are here on both sides. I think as business owners, we have to feel like we're here to provide all these things. But I think the flip is also true that if we allow ourselves to see that our team is also here to provide for us too.
I think it's like parents with children and they say they learn so much from their children when it's feels oftentimes the reverse that you're here to support them, but they're here truly building and supporting you. So tip, I love that. And I really hope doctors heard that. And I also hope team members heard that of speak up. like you said, Tiff, our team helps me clear the fog. Like when they call me out, they tell me all the time, like, Hey, when you like shift your hair like that, we know you're stressed out when care, Tiff, even say, you're like, here's got those eyes up. She's got to move and she does not have time for this.
Those are good pieces. They're like silly, but they helped me clear the fog. They helped me see more clearly. ? and I think that there's very few people that are willing to have those conversations. So when you're willing to have, and you have team members like that, cherish them, love them, pour into them. And if you don't have people that are quite there yet, pour into them too, because you never know. Like, again, it's a, it's a give take relationship. And I think when we see it, when you stop being the hero of your business as a business owner and you allow the entire team to be the hero, you're a guide.
it's a give take. It's a, it's we're equal ground. We're here to serve. We're here to be that I think is where magic is. And that to me, like just saying that that's a big part of the why of like what I'm freaking working for. ? for myself and for our other people, it's free. It's here for life. So I hope, don't know, Tiff, that was just a beautiful podcast and this is going to be one I hope people listen to over and over again. And just remember like, you can get lost. You need team members. ? but
Like you said, Tiffanie kept pointing to our hearts. Like I think let's go back to our little like summit, like drawing our human beings over here. Like I think the why comes from your soul. I think it comes from your heart. I think it's there. It's innate within you. And sometimes you just need to come back home to you to find it again and to have people around you and to support you on that journey. I mean, my team saw me go through some hard times and it feels so like, I don't know. It's like.
The Dental A Team (32:49)
you
The Dental A Team (33:09)
I'm not even a mask and it feels like de-masculating and I'm not even a man. Like I feel like I just lost like everything that was like, like the almost like the armor, the, the false like safety net. I think it's also like failing and admitting that you don't know everything. You feel like a failure. I think those are all the things. ? but like you said, Tiff, I think that there is actually so much strength because we don't make it worse than it is and we don't make it better than it is. We make it what it actually is. So we can actually build from there and create what's meant to be.
The Dental A Team (33:37)
Yep, I totally agree.
The Dental A Team (33:39)
Okay, with that, I hope you guys just take something from here. I don't think I've got a strong action item. think we usually hear for tactical. think it's more than anything. Like I guess the tactical is check your why, check to see why you're doing all this. What are you working for? What is that? Be open with your team, be vulnerable, set the vision, have the template, ? do it with your team, get people around you that are bought into your vision that are with you, that are rowing with you. Team members don't forget the power that you play in this. And if we can help you, this is what I think.
This to me is the core of Dental A Team. This conversation is what Tiff and I wanted this company to be. It's helping humans be humans. It's helping you realize that you don't have to be a robot. It's helping you have freedom to live life. ? We say it's like life is our passion. Dentistry is our platform. And so I think it's pretty special to be able to share that with you in a space of dentistry that brings us all together. So Tiff, thanks for being in my life. Thanks for being on the podcast. Thanks for the thoughts today. This one really was just ? a super special podcast that I'm grateful we were able to do together.
The Dental A Team (34:37)
Me too, thanks for messaging and it was perfect timing.
The Dental A Team (34:40)
Of course and for all of you listening reach out if we can help you in any way Hello@TheDentalATeam.com and remember you're worth it your why is worth it your your purpose in this life has meaning and we need you you're super special exactly how you are and Do not lose that because people depend on you people need you to have that vision So reach out if we can help you and as always thanks for listening. We'll catch you next time on the Dental A Team podcast.